


Back Home Again

by soo



Category: Quantum Leap
Genre: M/M, Yuletide, challenge:Yuletide 2004, recipient:shyday
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2004-12-25
Updated: 2004-12-25
Packaged: 2017-10-16 22:17:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,531
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/169929
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/soo/pseuds/soo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Home is where the heart is.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Back Home Again

Al inhaled deeply and pushed the button on the handlink that would disconnect him from Sam. Then he held his indrawn breath as Sam faded from view. He knew that Sam had saved his brother Tom, but he wasn't sure how that changed everything else. One thing for sure, Al was still a member of Quantum Leap. He was still here helping Sam. They were still linked together.

He stepped down off the platform and glanced around the Imaging Chamber. It still looked the same -- of course, all military installations looked alike, with their steel gray paint. He exited the chamber and began the long walk back up to the main quarters. One thing that had stayed consistent through all the leaps was that the Imaging Chamber was deeply buried underground, only accessible by a ramping hallway, because no matter what else changed; the science behind the project always stayed the same.

He punched in the code to open the door and walked through it, pausing before the elevator. "Ziggy?"

"Yes, Admiral?"

Well, at least that had stayed the same. "Do you have the changes to the timeline yet?"

"Of course, Admiral, they are on your office computer."

Al nodded and pushed the up button for the elevator. He needed to change, relax a little bit before he could muster up the desire to see how saving Tom had changed the timeline. While he hadn't been the one rescued, he knew that what affected Sam's life ultimately affected his, as well. They were best friends, after all.

Inside the elevator, he hit the button for the second floor and leaned back against the wall, closing his eyes as the elevator accelerated to the top. Would his rooms look like they had this morning, or would everything be different? There was only one way to find out.

He exited the elevator and rounded the corner to his door. He hesitated a moment, then tapped in Beth's birthday as the pass code and was relieved to find that it still worked. Cheered, he walked briskly into the room and scanned it. It looked pretty much the same, though there seemed to be a new photograph on the entertainment center.

He picked it up, studying it carefully. It was a picture of him and Sam against a light blue sky. They both looked insanely happy. The picture gave no clue as to when or even where it had been taken. He put it back on the shelf and continued to wander around.

He shrugged out of his jacket and threw it onto the couch, along with his hat, eyes wandering to the coffee table. He'd dropped an earring of Tina's there earlier in the day, but it was gone. He frowned, thinking. Usually when Tina picked up something she would leave something else behind -- a cute little message, or a rose, something like that. Maybe he and Tina weren't an item in this reality.

He closed his eyes. He wondered just how many things were going to be different in this new timeline.

He wondered just how different it would have been if Sam had rescued him, instead.

He swore and closed his eyes, his fists clenching at his side. He'd been down this road before, and he couldn't go down it again. It had taken him days to sober up after seeing Beth again -- after saying goodbye to her. And then three weeks of daily sessions with Verbena before he could even begin to deal with the emotions that had risen to the surface, before he could finally start to put the past behind him, where it belonged.

In fact, he was still in therapy. Verbena had insisted on weekly sessions until Sam came back -- back for good, that is. She had muttered something about wanting him to stay sane so that he could help put the pieces of Sam back together.

Al breathed in deeply, and let it out slowly. He relaxed his hands and shook the tension out of them before opening his eyes. He just needed to change his clothes and make his way down to his office. And then he could see how Sam's life had changed for the better.

He went to the bedroom, unbuttoning his dress shirt, which went in the hamper, followed in short order by his trousers. Pulling open the closet, he saw that Tina's clothes were gone, as well. He sighed and pulled out a pair of black trousers and his favorite purple shirt. Maybe they were just in one of their many off again stages. He donned his clothes and slipped on a pair of black loafers, glancing quickly in the mirror to check his appearance, before leaving his apartment.

He walked down the hall, pausing in front of Sam's quarters. "Ziggy is..."

"Yes, Admiral."

He stared at Sam's door for a moment. He wasn't sure that he could deal with Donna, and he definitely didn't want to get her hopes up. "Nothing, Ziggy."

The computer murmured something unintelligible in response, and he wondered where the hell it had picked that up.

He took the stairs to the first floor where he shared an office with Sam. As he did he kept watch on his surroundings; as far as he could see, nothing had changed, but then he hadn't really expected it to. If the Imaging Chamber stayed the same, then the corridors of the complex usually did, as well.

He passed by Gooshie's and Tina's offices and shook his head. It was only eight o'clock, and they had already left for the evening. They needed someone as brilliant and dedicated as Sam himself was if they ever expected to get him back. Not that they would ever find someone like that who would want to work for military pay.

He keyed in the code to their office and waited for the automatic lights to come on. The office, too, looked almost exactly as he'd left it this morning. There were a few new photographs on the desks, but he ignored them in favor of the information that appeared on his computer screen.

He sat down in his chair and began reading. Tom and his unit had served the remainder of their tour of duty relatively unscathed. They had rescued two more POW's, but never came close to his encampment again. After returning home, Tom had stayed at the family farm for a couple of months before joining Sam at MIT to get his MBA.

Al continued to read the new timeline until he got to May 1990 and the Beckett family reunion. He closed his eyes as a new memory washed over him.

 _"So, are you packed?"_

 _Al looked up from the report he was reading. "Packed?"_

 _Sam dropped into his office chair and kicked his feet up on the desk. "Yes, for Hawaii? The Beckett family reunion? Does any of this ring a bell?"_

 _Al pushed back from his desk. "Of course it rings a bell, I just didn't think..."_

 _Sam frowned, "You're part of my family, Al, as much as Tom and Donna. Of course you're invited."_

 _Al stood up, more pleased than he could have said. "Then I guess I better get packing."_

 _Sam's face lit up. "I guess so. Oh, and Al? Don't pack anything too flashy; you might give Mom a heart attack."_

 _Al laughed. "I doubt my clothes will give her a heart attack. She survived raising you and Tom, didn't she?"_

Al pushed back from the computer and opened his eyes.

It had been the right choice to save Tom.

He picked up the framed photo off his desk. It looked remarkably similar to the one in his quarters, except this one included Tom. They must've been taken at the same time. And unless he was completely mistaken, they had been taken at the family reunion in Hawaii.

He traced the outline of Sam's face, and another new memory washed over him.

 _"So, you're the infamous Al Calavicci?"_

 _Al stepped forward and got a closer look at the man who had enveloped Sam and Donna in a big bear hug just moments before. "And you must be the infamous Tom Beckett."_

 _"One and the same." Tom pulled him into a hug of his own. "Welcome to the family, Al. Sam and Donna say that they wouldn't be here without you, and that definitely makes you family in my book."_

 _"Let me a get a picture of the three of you just like that," Donna's voice rang out over the din of the picnic._

 _The three of them turned around, threw their arms around each other, and smiled broadly._

Al smiled faintly. Tom would never know just how right he was.

It had been the right choice. The only choice. even, because if he'd told Sam, then Sam would've hesitated, and neither one of them would've been saved.

And where would that have left Sam? Still in Vietnam in Magic's body? Having to deal with Tom's death again?

It was better this way. Sam got his brother back, and Al got the family that he had always wanted. After all, home is where the heart is.

  



End file.
